Zool. [mod.L., f. Gr. κρόταλον rattle: see prec.] The genus of American serpents containing the typical rattlesnakes.
1834. Brit. Cycl., II. I. 180. [Species] of Crotalus, properly so called, which have a rattle or instrument of sound upon the tail.
1864. Owen, Power of God, 46. The crotalus warns the ear of the American Indian by the rattle of its tail.
